Patient Stories

Oral Immunotherapy & Patient Stories

Amelia and Hana

Amelia and Hana, now both eleven years old, first met in September 2014, when they were both enrolled in The Peanut Oral Immunotherapy Study: Safety, Efficacy and Discovery (POISED) and took their first peanut dose together. Since that day, they have remained friends and have stayed in touch.

Christina

Having grown up with food allergies, Christina has always been interested in biological research and curious about the mechanisms that caused her to have severe reactions to common foods. During her senior year in high school she joined an Oral Immunotherapy clinical trial at our Center. Her journey has led her, now a junior at Yale University, to spend nine weeks working as an intern in the Nadeau lab at the Center.

Melanie

Melanie participated in a trial treating for peanut allergy through oral immunotherapy with omalizumab as a teen. It was a big commitment and sometimes daunting for her but, she persisted and was desensitized to peanuts before she started college. As a college student, her path has now led her to a summer internship in the Center's clinic and possibly a career in medicine and research.

Sinclair

Sinclair, a junior in high school, has lived with severe peanut allergies all his life, but he has not let his allergies limit his dreams. When the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, ignited his passion for mountaineering, Sinclair set his sights on climbing Aconcagua in Argentina, the tallest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, at 22,838 feet — while going through an immunotherapy clinical trial.

Serene, Matthew and Joshua

Serene, the mother of twin teenage boys with food allergies, talks about the daily challenges they encounter. Traveling, attending social events, and eating out, all require meticulous planning. Her sons, Matthew​ and Joshua, have now gone through clinical trials at the Center and they also share their experiences participating in a clinical trial and dealing with food allergies.

Chad

Chad has had food allergies since early childhood. He has also been diagnosed with moderate asthma. Eleven months into his clinical trial, he talks about how the treatment has already made a big difference in his life and how he no longer lives in constant fear of accidental ingestion of peanuts.

Megan

14 year-old Megan says, "It has been life-changing to not have to worry about having a severe allergic reaction every time I am around food.” She is desensitized to all four of her food allergens and no longer needs to worry about cross-contamination.

Carter

When the news came of Carter’s acceptance into the Center’s multi-allergen oral immunotherapy trial with Xolair, Darren knew he would do whatever it took to make his wife’s vision for their son a reality.

Maya

Matthew

16 year-old Matthew emphatically says "I am living proof that the future is extremely bright for people with food allergies. My family and I never imagined I would live a carefree life free from the fear of cross contamination. Being able to sit with my friends and eat a normal meal in a restaurant is really a huge bonus."

Alex

In 2010, we heard about Dr. Kari Nadeau’s food allergy research at Stanford. We had read about early work in oral immunotherapy (OIT), and were beyond excited to find out that cutting-edge research was being conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Dan

Patient Voices

Patient Voices

Under the leadership of Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, our Center has treated more than 800 patients and screened more than 2,000 patients since 2009. Read a sampling of answers to the question: how has your life changed since completing an allergy trial at Stanford?